Currently, the Yankees play at George M. Steinbrenner Field,
formerly Legends Field, in Tampa, Florida. (Courtesy of
Yankees.com)

George M. Steinbrenner Field

George M. Steinbrenner Field is a 31-acre complex with a seating capacity
of 11,026 seats.

Suites

There are 12 luxury suites in George M. Steinbrenner Field. For
information about reserving a suite, please call
(813) 879-2244
begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (813)
879-2244end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Monument Park

George M. Steinbrenner Field is home to Yankee Legends for whom the field
is named. Take a trip down memory lane as the greatest Yankees are honored
with a retired number and plaque.

In-Stadium Amenities

George M. Steinbrenner Field is equipped with BB&T ATM machines. The ATM
machines are located on the 3rd base side of the concourse and on the far
right field side of the concourse. The ATM machines accept Star, Quest,
Plus, MasterCard, Cirrus, Visa, Discover, American Express and Armed Forces
Financial Network bank cards.

George M. Steinbrenner Field offers six main concession stands on the
main concourse, all of which accept credit cards. Along with hot dogs, beer,
nachos and hamburgers, fans can find items such as Italian Ices, Pizza, and
other specialty foods.

Elevators & Disabled Entrance

George M. Steinbrenner Field offers two elevators for disabled patrons.
The disabled entrance is located to the northwest of the main entrance
through the double glass doors.

Directions From Reserved Parking: Proceed towards
stadium on pathways to main staircase. Make a left at the staircase and
enter through the glass double doors.

Directions From General Parking Across Dale Mabry Crosswalk:
Proceed to and over Dale Mabry Crosswalk. Exit crosswalk by the ramp and
proceed under main staircase. Make a right into double glass doors.

Ballpark Information

George M. Steinbrenner Field

1 Steinbrenner Drive

Tampa, FL 33614

tel: (813) 879-2244

tel: (800) 96-YANKS

Directions & Parking

From I-275:
Take I-275 to North Dale Mabry (US Highway 92), exit 41B (old 23). Proceed
north approximately 3 miles. George M. Steinbrenner Field will be on your
left.

Airport:
Proceed out the Airport exit to Spruce Street. Approximately 2 miles, make a
left on North Dale Mabry (US Highway 92) for approximately 1 mile. George M.
Steinbrenner Field will be on your left.

Parking

Parking at George M. Steinbrenner Field is reserved parking.

The majority of public parking spaces available are in Lots 1, 2, 3, and
4. Fans will cross Dale Mabry Highway via the crosswalk (in red). Parking in
Lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 is $10.00 during the Spring Training season.

There are disabled parking spaces available with easy access across
Steinbrenner Drive to the main plaza and ticket windows. Elevators are
located in the main lobby which will take you to the concourse level.

Take
I-275 to North Dale Mabry (U.S. Hwy. 92), exit 41B (old 23).
Proceed north approximately three miles. Legends Field will be
on your left, directly across from Raymond James Stadium. Follow
the signs for parking, as you'll park on the opposite side of
Dale Mabry from the ballpark.

In
the spring of 1951, for the first and only time, the Bronx Bombers went West for
Spring Training to get rejuvenated in Arizona and California. And there emerged
Mickey Mantle, the youthful star who would not only lead the dynasty to another
string of titles but also replace the irreplaceable Joe DiMaggio.

A young fan once
heckled Al Kaline for not being "half the player Mickey Mantle is!" The Tigers
star replied, "Son, nobody is half the player Mickey Mantle is."

It was in February of 1951 that
baseball fans got their first glimpse of the player Mickey Mantle was. Yankees
manager Casey Stengel had assembled a camp of some 25 rookies for an
instructional school in Phoenix, Ariz. and Mantle quickly became the focus of
Stengel's attention. The dynastic Yankees were rarely impulsive about promoting
minor leaguers-much less kids from the low minors; but when Casey saw Mantle, he
began wondering whether this time the old rules didn't apply. "This kid ain't
logical," Stengel complained. "He's too good. It's very confusing."

The awe with which Stengel viewed
his new thoroughbred was shared by the press which devoted voluminous ink to
chronicle Mantle's arrival on the baseball scene. First the kid was a
switch-hitter, which by itself was a rarity. At the time of Mantle's arrival,
the American League featured just one regular switch-hitter, Dave Philley of the
Athletics. Moreover, switch-hitting was seen as a device employed by hitters who
were lacking other weapons. Of the switch-hitters that had preceded Mantle
(Frankie Frisch, Red Schoendeinst and Max Carey were the best), nearly all were
disdainful of the longball. In 1951, the career leader in home runs by a
switch-hitter was Ripper Collins with 135. The idea of tape-measure power from
both sides of the plate was enough to get anyone's attention. But Mantle was
also the fastest thing on cleats that anyone could remember seeing. The first
time Stengel saw Mantle running windsprints with other players at his rookie
camp, he couldn't believe his eyes. He had them run again, and then put Mantle
against everyone in camp. "My God," Stengel said. "The boy runs faster than
Cobb."

Maintaining the Dynasty
At the same time, another player was making preseason headlines. Joe DiMaggio,
now 37, spent the winter after the 1950 World Series considering his future and
on March 2 revealed that he expected '51 to be his last season. The Yankees
front office was stunned by the announcement, but the disbelieving press
reported, hopefully, that DiMaggio had left a loophole with his promise of a
definitive statement at the end of the year. Surely, the Clipper would
reconsider.

In retrospect, there was an obvious
symmetry to the Yankees line of succession: Lou Gehrig had assumed the superstar
role after Babe Ruth last wore the pinstripes, DiMaggio's debut came at the end
of Gehrig's career, and Mantle, similarly, first appeared in the Bronx in
DiMaggio's last season, 1951. But in the desert that spring, few realized that a
torch was being passed. DiMaggio couldn't be through; he had just finished
blasting 32 homers with 122 RBIs in the 1950 campaign. And besides, Mantle was a
shortstop.

When Stengel was chosen to manage
the Yanks before the 1949 season, the Bombers were an aging ballclub. Though
they had won the World Series in 1947, they finished out of the money in '48 and
started poorly in '49. With DiMaggio edging into his twilight years, some
wondered if Stengel had been brought in just to give some color to a team in
decline.

Instead, the Old Professor patched
together two pennants in a row and went west in the spring of 1951 hoping to
find a way to keep his tattered troops together for another championship run.
None of his starting pitchers (Vic Raschi, Eddie Lopat, Allie Reynolds and Tommy
Byrne) was younger than 31. His top reliever, Joe Page, broke down in training
camp (he never pitched for the Yankees again) and Old Reliable Tommy Henrich
startled the baseball world with the admission that he was three years older
than previously thought. He called it quits before the season. DiMaggio was old
too, and Johnny Mize was older.

Small wonder, then, that Stengel
prevailed upon the Yankees brass to institute a preseason camp just for rookies,
giving the club a forum to both train and evaluate the cream of the Yankees farm
system. As was usually the case, New York had more minor league teams, 14, than
any club in the league. If Stengel were to stay on top, here is where he had to
begin.

Yankees Out West
The Bronx Bombers were the preeminent draw in American sports. It didn't hurt
that in 1951 they were baseball's reigning champs. Each of baseball's other 15
Major League clubs had their followers, but to most Americans the Yankees and
baseball were one and the same. Still, no Yankee team had ever set foot on the
West Coast. Spring rites had been performed by Yankee squads in Cuba, Bermuda,
Venezuela, Panama, New Orleans, Houston, Savannah and often Florida, but never
among the cities of the Cactus League.

The Yankees first started training
in Florida in 1919, and except for the interruption of World War II, have
trained there ever since. But in 1951, Yankees co-owner Del Webb, a resident of
Phoenix, wanted his club to keep him company for a spring in Arizona and also
take a tour of the West Coast. Webb arranged a training camp swap with fellow
owner Horace Stoneham: the New York Giants joined the Grapefruit League,
training in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Stengel's nine headed west to Phoenix.

The new surroundings apparently
agreed with both squads as the Giants and Yankees eventually faced off in the
1951 World Series. The Yankees appearance in Arizona, although for just one
year, also helped to solidify the Cactus League. The Cubs traveled from their
longtime spring home on Catalina Island, Calif., to play an exhibition series
with the Yankees in Phoenix. The road trip's success coupled with a spring snow
on Catalina prompted the Cubs to relocate their Spring Training facility to
Mesa, Ariz., the next year. And they've remained there ever since. When the
Orioles moved in to train in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 1956, joining the Giants in
Phoenix, the Cubs in Mesa and the Indians in Tucson, the Cactus League could
boast four clubs in close proximity and provide convenient exhibition play. The
spring circuit in Arizona has not fielded fewer than four squads since.

Perhaps even more excited than
Phoenix by the arrival of the New Yorkers in 1951 was California where the
Yankees would begin an 11-day barnstorming trip on March 16. The club's two
dominant personalities, Stengel and DiMaggio, were Californians. Stengel lived
in Glendale and had preceded his tenure with the Yankees by piloting the Oakland
Oaks to a PCL championship in 1948. DiMaggio was a San Franciscan and played
four years for his hometown Seals before the Yankees bought him in 1936. And San
Francisco was a fountain of infielders into which the Yankees had been dipping
for years: Frank Crosetti, Tony Lazzari, Jerry Coleman and now Gil McDougald,
another rookie getting Stengel's attention in the instructional school.

San Francisco was also the home of
23-year-old Jackie Jensen who, unlike Mantle (who signed for $1,000), had come
to the Yankees as a bonus baby. Signed for $40,000 after starring in the 1949
Rose Bowl for the University of California, the Golden Boy was coming home.

So Soon, Another War
While baseballs filled the warm spring air in Phoenix and, across the continent,
in Florida, there was another matter commanding the attention of Americans
during the early days of 1951. No one could ignore that a war was in progress,
least of all the young men who were expected to fight it. North Korea had
marched south the previous June and by July American soldiers were in battle.

With the grim memories of World War
II just five years old, the nation was fearful that a repeat was on the horizon
in Korea. In November, China had entered the war and now, as ballplayers
assembled in their camps, Gen. Douglas MacArthur was threatening to bring the
war to the Chinese. The fear of international Communism added to the sense of
doom shadowing the country. In March, 1951, the Rosenbergs were convicted of
giving atomic bomb secrets to the Russians.

Whitey Ford, hero of the 1950 World
Series, was drafted into the service, as was Billy Martin, who otherwise would
have participated in Stengel's pre-camp instructional school. Other young
players waited for the call, but a different cloud hovered over Mantle. To the
disbelief of all who saw Mantle fly down the first baseline, the military had
determined that Mickey was 4-F physically unable to perform combat duties. He
suffered from osteo-myelitis, an infection of the bone in his left leg. The
condition was the result of an injury he suffered playing high school football
and, despite occasional flare ups, was impossible for anyone other than a doctor
to detect.

The 4-F deferment was issued back
in 1949, before Mantle had been subject to public scrutiny. But as the
newspapers began to tout the young slugger, questions arose about his mysterious
injury. It was one thing for the New York Yankees to connive to win the World
Series every year (or so it seemed), but now to swing this 4-F ruling was too
much. Mantle himself took the brunt of the criticism, but the draft board and
the Yankee club were also targets. "We aren't sending boys over there to kick
the enemy," wrote one skeptic.

The Kid Does Not Disappoint
When Spring Training began, Stengel knew of Mantle's success at Joplin in 1950
(.383, MVP), and was generally aware of Mantle's reputation. He didn't, however,
come into camp with the idea that Mantle might replace DiMaggio or, for that
matter, even make the team. In fact there were several other newcomers for whom
he had bigger plans.

One was Jensen. Stengel is noted as
a pioneer in the use of platoons, but he was also unusual in his willingness to
shuffle players in and out of positions. He often won pennants with no set
infield and would unhesitatingly move players to unfamiliar posts if it meant an
advantage somewhere else. After two weeks of inspecting his 1951 crop of
rookies, he decided on two important changes. One was moving Mantle to the
outfield (Stengel briefly considered putting Mantle at third, and would have if
not for the presence of McDougald); and the other was making Jensen a pitcher.

It was Jensen who was first tabbed
heir to DiMaggio, but after hitting .171 in 45 games in 1950, Stengel didn't
think Jensen could hit in the big leagues. But he liked the way the kid threw,
so when Jensen arrived in Phoenix, he was told to start warming up his arm.

Mantle was placed under the
tutelage of Henrich, in his first year as coach after years as an All-Star
outfielder with the Yankees. Henrich's tough first assignment was to turn a
shortstop who had committed 55 errors in the Class C Western League in 1950 into
an outfielder able to patrol Yankee Stadium in 1951. Because Mantle was having
trouble with balls hit right at him, Stengel felt more comfortable with the kid
in right field than center. But with DiMaggio hobbling at the start of Spring
Training, Mantle opened the exhibition season in center field.

The Yankees first exhibition game
was in Tucson March 10 against the Indians and Mantle had three hits in a losing
cause. Jensen, on the mound, was hit hard. If Mantle was feeling good about
passing his first Major League test, he returned to earth with a thud the next
day.

Starting in center again, Mantle
was hitless in the game when Ray Boone's long drive conked Mantle on the head
while he struggled to get his sunglasses in place, resulting in his immediate
departure from the game. The next day he overran Dale Mitchell's fly in the
ninth, allowing the tying run to score. After that, Mantle and Henrich went back
to work. On March 13, the Jensen pitching experiment came to an end. With four
hits, including two homers and four runs, Jensen rejoined the competition to
succeed DiMaggio in the outfield.

The California swing opened in
Hollywood where the Yankees game was a sellout; across town the Browns and White
Sox, each with training camps in the Los Angeles area, played before 235 fans.
The Yankees tour passed through Los Angeles, Glendale, Sacramento, San Francisco
and Oakland. Mantle kept hitting, rewarding the reporters who, for three weeks,
had been trumpeting his batting exploits. The last date on the trip was a game
versus Southern Cal in L.A. on March 26. Mantle drove in seven runs. By the time
the club headed back to Arizona, Mantle had blasted five home runs and was
batting over .400.

DiMaggio, on the other hand, was
limping. The knee that had been bothering him for years had flared up again and
the Clipper wasn't hitting. With so many fans anxious to see the legend during
his much-heralded homecoming, DiMaggio played but he finished the tour below
.200. "The old geezer's about done," DiMaggio told friends in San Francisco.

Everything the Yankees did created
repercussions and their jaunt through California was no exception. The Pacific
Coast League clubs that hosted the Yanks had a bonanza at the box office, as the
Bombers "wheeled their money wagon" up the coast. Conversely, Major League
clubs, particularly the Browns, resented the fact that "they were denied even
one spoonful of Yankee gravy," though the Yanks did play one of their 12
California games against the White Sox. Most importantly, the trip prompted
baseball officials for the first time to seriously consider locating big league
teams out west.

Years later, what Mantle remembered
most about that trip was how Stengel had favored the California-bred players in
making out the lineup. "I didn't start," Mantle recalled. "I was from Oklahoma."

The club settled back in at Phoenix
for one last week, with Mantle redoubling his work with Henrich in the outfield
as the rest of the club tried to mend the various ailments earned in 12 games in
11 days on the road. Stengel fretted over a pitching dilemma unearthed by the
coast swing. Reynolds was sore armed, and replacing Ford seemed harder than
ever. "The desert broods and the desert knows," Casey mused when asked about
finding five starters. "I just wish I knew, too."

On April 3, Stengel took his club
east, playing every day at stops such as San Antonio, Austin, Beaumont, Houston,
Dallas, Kansas City and Louisville. On April 4, before a game in El Paso, Mantle
got some disturbing news. He had been called for another draft physical, and was
to report to his draft board in Miami, Okla., on April 11. The Yankees denied
it, but word leaked that the club, hoping to quiet the now steady chorus of
denunciation concerning the phenom's 4-F classification, had asked the board to
reexamine Mantle. Both Mantle and the club were getting hate mail, and fans at
the ballparks were giving the kid more invective than he was used to. Now,
perhaps, the army would change its mind and instead of the Bronx, Mantle would
be heading to Panmunjom. He responded by hitting his sixth homer of the spring
that day, along with a double and single.

Mantle rejoined the club in New
York for a three-game set against the Dodgers. In the final game of the
exhibition season he had four hits, finishing the spring with a .402 average,
nine homers and 31 RBIs. Stengel still wasn't sure he had made the team, though
the draft board reaffirmed his status as unqualified for induction. The Yankees
total attendance for the spring, 278,880, was a new record.

Big League Debut
The club headed to Washington for opening day, but Mantle didn't know if he was
along as a Yankee, or if he was on his way to Kansas City where the minor league
season would start several days later. General manager George Weiss wanted to
send Mantle down for a year but Stengel wanted Mantle to start in his outfield.
Discussions with Yankee owners Dan Topping and Webb determined that the
19-year-old phenom would stick with the club, as would McDougald and Jensen.

It rained three days in Washington,
costing President Harry Truman a first-pitch appearance. The club returned to
Yankee Stadium to open the season against the Red Sox. Jensen was leading off
and playing left field with Mantle in right, hitting third, and DiMaggio batting
cleanup. Ford, in military uniform, threw out the first pitch.

Though Mantle had performed
sensationally in Spring Training, the 1951 season would not be an easy one for
the teenaged slugger. Big league pitching was far superior to the minor league
variety seen in most exhibition games. Mantle drove Stengel crazy with his wild
swings; one day in Boston he struck out five times on the same pitch out of the
strike zone.

His temper began to show. After he
took a poor at-bat into the field with him and blew an outfield play behind
Lopat, the veteran pitcher threatened him. The Yankees weren't amused by his
attacks on water coolers. The furor over his draft status had not been defused
by the second exam and Mantle became a target of abuse. In Chicago, fans threw
firecrackers at him, leading Stengel to threaten to pull the Yankees from the
field.

Still, in early July, Mantle was
leading the club with 45 RBIs and had slugged seven homers. However, his .260
batting average was in steady decline. Stengel reluctantly admitted a mistake
and shipped him out to Kansas City. Jensen had won the regular job in left, and
Hank Bauer was healthy and playing right field regularly. DiMaggio was still in
center. Mantle finished the season with Kansas City and returned to the Yankees
in September. By the time the 1951 World Series began, he was starting in right
field. It was in Game Two that he tore knee ligaments when he stepped in an
outfield drainage hole, the first of the debilitating injuries that blighted his
career.

The Yankees won the World
Championship in '51, as they did in eight of Mantle's first 12 years, six of
those under Stengel. The Yankees returned to California in 1962 to play the
relocated Giants in the World Series, but there have been no further Spring
Training visits. Jensen was dealt to the Senators in '52 and ended up leading
the AL in RBIs three times for the Red Sox. And Mickey Mantle became, for the
Yankees and an entire generation of baseball fans, the next DiMaggio.